


chalcedony

by kalypsobean



Category: Secret Circle - L. J. Smith
Genre: Magic, Other, POV Outsider, Soulmates
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-12-23
Updated: 2018-12-23
Packaged: 2019-09-25 10:35:11
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,020
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17119733
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/kalypsobean/pseuds/kalypsobean
Summary: Chalcedony, bind them threeChalcedony, set them free





	chalcedony

**Author's Note:**

  * For [Nerissa](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Nerissa/gifts).



The problem with inexperienced witches is that they don't know what they're _doing_. Most of the time it doesn't matter; they're too young, too stupid, or simply not powerful enough for their spells to work. In those cases she lets them go on, because mistakes are how people learn. If there was no harm done, it sometimes takes a while for her to even notice; the world is rather a big place, after all, and a puff of wind where it shouldn't be doesn't always cause more than a rock out of place, a piece of paper missing instead of found. There are things she only notices when they have an effect, days or even weeks later, and are easily set right even then; a nudge back into place, a whisper in someone's ear, a dream or deja vu, and everything is as it should have been. Some things, the earth takes care of for her, after all, that is where the power truly comes from; carnelian can no more channel fire than it can heal wounds, and aragonite would never cause an earthquake where one would never naturally occur. A herb doesn't change itself because the words spoken over it are different, either; a spell may be less potent for it, but it won't cause damage if it wasn't meant to.

 _Blood magic_ , on the other hand, well, that just mucks things right up.

 

Cassandra Blake comes to her attention mere days before things get to the point of needing her intervention, which was both frustrating and a bit of a relief. Perhaps if she'd had a bit more time to prepare, things wouldn't have gotten that far in the first place. She could have whispered to Diana - ever obedient, talented, innocent Diana Meade - and prevented her from loving Adam quite so much, or she could have blown the wind away from Raj, so Cassie would not have met Adam that day. Then again, the reason she hadn't paid attention to Cassie was that Cassie had never done anything wrong, or bad, or accidental; there was no reason to think she'd be so powerful so soon, because there had been nothing to fix, and no indication she even knew of her power in order to use it quite so well. The only magic done in that meeting, as fateful as it proved to be, was done without intent, without words, and even she didn't feel it, at first. She didn't even look for anything out of place, after, for Cassie's time had not yet come.

 

The first signs came when Cassie settled into the house on Crowhaven Road. What should have been her first meeting with Diana failed to happen; Diana was inside instead of in the garden, and Cassie kept walking instead of catching her attention. Things weren't always so prescribed; the Fates had far too much to do and their threads were often loosely twined - things would happen in their own time if they had to happen, or one meeting would set off another - but once Cassie arrived, she was _meant_ to meet Diana, and they were _meant_ to be friends before school started, all so Cassie would be ready to take her place in the Circle at the right time. The groundwork for the destruction of Black John had been laid for generations, and there had been quite a bit of nudging to get Alexandra Howard out of New Salem in the first place; any deviation now, even within the often capricious twists of fate, endangered that. Perhaps there was reason for the delay, in the end, or perhaps it was simply that the result was more important than the timing, or perhaps the late nature of Cassie's election was integral to the Circle's victory; she was not all-seeing, after all, merely rather well-informed and rather powerful.

 

Blood magic, of all the kinds of magic in the world, is the one she most dislikes. Even elemental magics can be tempered and twisted and brought back into harmony, and there's a kind of peace in that - in there being a rightness that is overarching, a guide to what must be maintained and held and what does not belong. Blood magic does not adhere to right and wrong, or understand the natural order; it isn't like a plant or a stone, something of the earth that retains its magic at all times in exchange for having a limited purpose, able to be controlled and able to work on its own. Blood magic doesn't respond to the intent of the caster in the way potions do, or filter a witches' will in the way stones do. Blood magic _tears_ the world and leaves her bound to remake it in the way that best fits, even when it destroys something else, something natural and older than she is.

 

And so when Adam Conant slices his palm open and shares his blood with Cassandra Blake, the changes in the world are made clear through a ripping in the fabric of time itself; she can hear the Fates crying out in pain, and the elements swirling beneath the soil and in the air; restless and reckless, they are untamed and unleashed, ready to claim their right at even the smallest hurt. There is little she can do but remake things as best she can, and for a moment she fears all is lost.

 

There's a whisper in her heart and a slight glint passing between their hands, and she thinks of blue-gray and sparkling and silver. The words come silently as she reaches out, twisting the weft around the stone, a simple chalcedony rose, and hopes it finds its way home. The world settles itself; the sun shines and the moon glows, the stars twinkle and the planets spin, the tides flow and the rain falls. Cassie gives the rose to Adam. Adam gives the stone to Diana. Diana places it in the earth and it waits, it weaves, and then Diana gives the stone to Cassie; the silver thread binds them all, the elements settle, the Fates quiet, and she rests.


End file.
